Bowling in the Hallway
by Liimbo
Summary: The lights are going out and the guests are closing their doors and going to sleep, but a shady bellhop and a washed out salesman are still out shooting the breeze and knocking down pins in the dark hallways of Hotel Dusk.


_December 28_ _th_ _, 1979_

 _11:23 P.M._

Midnight was closing in, but the two men out in the dimly lit hallway moved like it was nearing noon. Louis DeNonno in particular looked as giddy as a boy with his first kite as Kyle lined up the pins. They hadn't started playing, but he was already trash talking, rolling his arms and shoulders as he proclaimed the outcome to be inevitable. Kyle Hyde didn't rise to his baiting. It was just words, and words were just air. It was when the ball starts rolling that they'll see who's all bluster. Even so, something in Kyle wanted him to be a motor mouth too. It's been a long time since he last winded down for something like this. Something with no stakes and that was joyfully simple in nature.

"I'm telling you my man," Louis was saying, all but hopping from foot to foot, shoes tapping out a beat on the floorboards. "You ain't gonna win this one." He grinned, face and palms tilted up and sideways with what would have been arrogance from another man, but from him it was just premature jubilance. "Nope, no siree. I got this in the bag. Hey, why don't we raise the stakes while we're at this, huh? C'mon, I know you salesmen get paid peanuts, Officer. You could do with some scratch…Or maybe we shouldn't. I'd probably clean you out." The man's laughter echoed off the walls, not mocking but sincerely happy. Most people grew up and some of them became dull as time wore them down. And then there were people like Louis, who seemed like they would always be children at heart, eager for fun and slackers till the end.

Kyle cradled his chin as they both stood back a distance from the nice pyramid of pins. Since he'd arrived, all he had been doing was knocking on doors and bringing secrets into the light. He hadn't been a detective for three years, but now he was feeling young once more. Not tired. He bet if he could find a mirror, he'd see his face toying with a fox's smirk. Louis was right. Even if they hung up their badge and six-shooter, some cops can't stay away from the beat and the collars that came with it. But still, nothing wrong with a little downtime with a friend, if you can call the former pickpocket standing next to him a friend. "You want to go first?" He suggested.

Louis shrugged. "Nah, you can take it. I'm gonna win anyway."

Kyle glanced at him and shook his head as he picked up the ball and hefted it. "Don't get ahead of yourself," he retorted, getting his thumb and fingers into the holes.

A chuckle next to him. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Right Louie." Kyle stretched and twisted his neck. Gave a few practice rolls, shifting his legs. "First to ten?"

"Rosa's going to catch us long before that."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Nah man. You saw what happened last time she chewed me out. All bark and no bite. Wouldn't be the first time. And you're a customer." Louis gestured. "Come on, let's go! Time's a' wasting!"

Kyle stepped up, ball in both hands, then swung his arm back and watched it rocket down the floor, watched it swerve, and gaped as it crashed into the corner pins, knocking and setting four onto their sides with a disjointed cacophony of solid clunks against the wood, the remaining six standing mockingly upright.

Louis threw his head back and howled as Kyle groaned. "Man, that the best you can do! Now watch me! Watch the master work his magic!" Louis crowed, hopping forward to set the pins up as Kyle stepped past him to retrieve the ball.

Half a minute later, the pyramid was erected again, and the roles were reversed, as Kyle stood to the side, hands on hips and frowning at the pins as Louis got settled into his groove. "Just roll, Louie," Kyle grunted.

Louis chuckled and did so, same forward stride and sweep of hand as Kyle did.

The ball came fast, and just like Kyle, it swerved and hit the corner pins, knocking four out as Louis's smirk wavered and Kyle's frown swung upside down. Kyle clapped his hand as Louis scratched his head sheepishly. "Master huh?" Kyle echoed pleasantly.

"Well the night's still young." Louis clucked his tongue. "I guess that's a tie. Figures. A stinking tie for the first round."

With that they hurriedly set the pins up again. They wanted as many games as possible.

"No time like the present," Louis muttered as Kyle got the ball in hand again.

"Don't rush me," Kyle replied. He hefted to check his grip, and he slowly breathed through his nose, in and out, pushing his tension away and looking for that happy place where he could find the magic to make the strike.

Then he rolled and watched the pins fall as the crash filled his ears. He pumped his fist when he saw that only one was still standing.

"Niceee." Louis nodded with a smile. Not nervous but eager. A man who knows when the gauntlet's being thrown down. "Alright, alright. Guess you want to play for keeps then."

The pins were erected again. Kyle picked up the ball and pressed it into Louis's hands, stood aside and watched the pins as Louis rolled next. Grinned when only three pins remained standing. "First round to me?"

Louis shrugged. "It was a fluke. I'll get you next time."

By now you've figured the routine now. Set them up and knock them down, again and again. Kyle proved it wasn't fluke, as over the course of the next few rounds the verdict kept swinging between them, next Louis's and then Kyle's and so on and so forth. As it was, sometime in the middle of it, when Kyle felt Louis clap him on the shoulder and the ball from him as they both walked away from the pins, something in him that had grown bitter over the last three years began to loosen. He began to feel like he was with Bradley and the other detectives at the bowling alley in downtown New York, back before that one phone call that ruined his life and sent him spiraling down to rock bottom. Back when he'd been happy and content.

That's when Louis's roll veered off course such that the ball broke the plant pot. That's when they found the key hidden inside the clumps of dirt, a piece of shaped metal with no room number on it and looking older than time itself. And that's when another mystery reared its ugly head and reminded Kyle that he was here because somewhere within the walls of this place lurked the beginnings of a dark story about a man who paints pictures of angels and a man who came here six months ago and booked a room under the name of Kyle Hyde. A story that involved not only him, but nearly everyone else inside this building who've all been drawn together by circumstance or the strange past of Hotel Dusk.


End file.
